Heralded as "one of the most crisp, popping, and sensitive drummers around" [Modern Drummer], Billy Drummond is a powerful and highly musical drummer whose thrilling capacity to spur on each soloist has earned him a reputation as one of the most exciting drummers in the world. "He spins jazz on the head of a pin with stunning results." [Jazz Times] Born in Newport News, where he played in bands from the age of eight, Drummond moved to New York in 1986, at the behest of Al Foster, and was almost immediately recruited to the young band Out of the Blue (OTB), recording Spiral Staircase (Blue Note), before being snatched up by jazz legends Horace Silver and Sonny Rollins, with whom he spent one and three years respectively.

Among the most called-for players of his generation, with over 250 albums as a sideman to his credit, Drummond is also a critically acclaimed bandleader, with six CDs as a co-leader and three as a leader under his belt, including his cult hit Dubai (Criss Cross) - featuring Chris Potter, Walt Weiskopf and Peter Washington - which Peter Watrous of the New York Times named his Number One choice of the best jazz CDs of 1996. A highly versatile player, Drummond's skills have been called upon by the world's greatest jazz musicians - including Joe Henderson, J J Johnson, Eddie Gomez, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Tolliver, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Toots Thielmans, Hank Jones, Buster Williams, Nat Adderley, James Moody, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Christian McBride, Joe Locke, Sheila Jordan, Larry Willis, Javon Jackson, Charles McPherson, Archie Shepp, Tony Malaby, Eric Reed, Marty Ehrlich, Chris Potter and Eddie Henderson. He is also a long-time member of Carla Bley and the Lost Chords and the Steve Kuhn Trio. On top of maintaining a busy touring schedule, he is currently Professor of Jazz Drums at the Juilliard School of Music and NYU in New York.